American Insurance Services Group Becomes Part of ISO, Paving the Way for Single, Industrywide All-Claims Data Base

NEW YORK, Oct. 2, 1997 — American Insurance Services Group (AISG), the leading provider of property/casualty claims information, today became part of Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO).

ISO acquired the assets and operations of AISG, an affiliate of the American Insurance Association (AIA), under the terms of an agreement signed yesterday by ISO and the AIA, a Washington-based trade association.

ISO pledged that the integration of AISG into ISO will occur seamlessly, and without the need for customers to change procedures. AISG will operate as a unit of ISO, and the AISG's 125 employees will join ISO's existing 2,100-person work force.

The AISG transaction paves the way for ISO to build a single, consolidated all-claims data base to fight the property/casualty insurance industry's $20-billion-a-year fraud problem. The board of governors of the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) on Aug. 7 approved the migration of that industry-supported organization's claims data bases, related data bases and software to ISO.

"The AISG acquisition properly has been called a marriage made in information heaven," said Fred R. Marcon, ISO's chairman, president and chief executive officer." By leveraging our world-class data-management expertise and economies of scale with AISG's established expertise in claims information, we'll be able to produce superior information and technology solutions for the insurance claims-management function. Add to that the data bases that the NICB has developed, and you've got a combination that will really deliver for insurers and their policyholders."

"By combining forces with ISO, which specializes in information services, AISG is assured of remaining at the forefront of information technology and professional information analysis," said Richard P. Boehning, AISG's president, who will continue in that position when AISG becomes a unit of ISO.

Planning for the consolidation of the AISG's and NICB's claims data bases is already under way. The consolidated data base will include bodily injury, workers compensation, property and vehicle claims. NICB will continue to investigate insurance fraud, train insurer and law-enforcement personnel, and undertake public-affairs and public-awareness initiatives to combat fraud.

Marcon noted that ISO's integration of the AISG's and NICB's separate claims data bases will eliminate redundant operating costs, as well as some insurers' duplicative costs of reporting claims data to both AISG and NICB.

ISO will integrate the AISG's and NICB's claims-information processing, select the better software and processes from each organization, assume accountability for the consolidated data base's privacy and security, and continue serving the AISG's and NICB's customers and constituents.

"You can be certain that ISO's recognized analytical and technological strengths will be brought to bear in identifying and examining claims trends and patterns in new ways that will speed the payment of meritorious claims while increasing the likelihood of detecting fraud," Marcon said. "With our established customer relationships, and with systems already in place to efficiently collect information from insurers, we intend to significantly increase the proportion of claims reported to ISO. That will further improve the usefulness of the data bases."

Marcon also noted that by combining with ISO, the AISG's operations will benefit from ISO's financial strength and access to capital.

AISG will continue to operate the A-PLUS claims data base, which insurers use for underwriting.

In addition to AISG's claims data bases, AISG's other services will continue when it becomes part of ISO:

"ISO's mission is to be the premier value-added resource for all needed property/casualty information," Marcon said. "By bringing ISO foursquare into the claims-management area, and by moving us into so many critical technical-information services, the AISG acquisition is a significant step toward fulfilling that mission."